10
Thursday, November 18, 1971
University Daily Kansan
Campanile Peals Tribute to KU War Dead
less than six pounds. A man can stand up inside the larger bells, although this isn't enough to hold the bells by the massive hammers. An intricate network of cables and springs connect the bells to the stems of the violin, which is magnificent with the University spread in a panorama below. Access to them is limited to Gerken and his students.
INSIDE THE CAMPANILE is a maze of wires, springs, beels, clocks and other devices necessary to produce the chimes which tell the time, and play the music. These chimes are two consoles, one practice, and one real, which Albert Gerkert, University cardinier uses in presenting his music. Access to the upper parts of the chimes must be achieved by ladder past the levels of bells which range in weight from over seven tons to
Photos by Doug Delano
By CHRIS CARSTENSON
Kansan Staff Writer
puille,
Standing like a guard,
He feet but not mute
He ye speak no
From dawn to dusk
A word of vigil:
To all the youths at thy feet;
The makers of the future theirs.
And of this ailing.
And as I listen you speak the story of all those dead.
in whose memory you stand,
I wonder what would they have to
say if they knew
That this world today is farther from the end.
That the day they were dead,
And that this,
Serve but as a summon to the 8 o'clock class
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
These were the words Hemen
Cohen took to describe his
Memorial School. Parekh
composed this poem in 1958 when
he was a foreign student from
Baltimore.
Now 15 years later the Campanile (pronounced kam-pe-nele) keeps alive the memory of RU soldiers who served in World War II.
The idea for a campanile was presented in 1945 to a committee of alumni, faculty and students whose purpose it was to establish
The committee agreed upon three basic principles to which the memorial should conform:
1. Loyal bondage
2. It should benefit a majority of students.
should have a memorial and function. The campanile proposal was unanimously voted for by the committee.
Groundbreaking ceremonies took place on Jan. 11, 1950. Hugo Wedel, president of the construction company, the first shovel of dirt. Constant Construction Co., Lawrence, completed the massive stone tower in May 1951, with the laying of a concrete at Commissionment year that.
The Campanile houses KU's 53-bed carillon. The tower, built of stone, is structured at a cost of about $200,000. From a base that measures 22 feet, 9 inches in height, the roof rises to a height of 12 feet.
Inside the tower on the ground floor is the Memorial Room—the rear of the room, where the foot base of the room is built of Virginia greenstone. Engraved on the walls are the names of the 72 KU men and the 72 KU men in their war. The frieze, located directly above the greenstone, bears this in-
The four sides of the structure are concave openings extending the full length on each side. The top and bottom sides of the structure has an outer facing of mixed Cottonwood, Silverdale and Junction City limestone. Twenty-three feet from the top are rounded and the unimpeded emission of bell tones.
One enters the tower through 9-inch 2-inch boot sculpted doors. The bronze figures were sculptured by Bernard "Poco" Fraser. At the south entrance of the building, one steps to the north, the Doors of Kansas.
"Free government does not bestow repose upon its citizens, but sets them in the vanguard of mankind to defend the liberty of every man."
Each of the bells in the tower is inscribed in honor of some individual or group. Plaques are mounted on the walls for whom the bells toll are displayed in the Memorial room. From the Memorial room one plaque features a narrow, winding staircase to the top of the tower. Climbing is slow on the not-too-well lighted stairs. Emerging from a 77-step climb, the carillon is located at the tower. Located here is a small room containing the keyboard of the carillon. Although classed as a piano, the carillon would baffle a pianist. Carillon keys are actually wooden levers. They are larger than those spaced than those of a piano.
The polished coke console has 35 keys. Each key, when depressed, releases a rubber clapper hanging inside the bell, making it sound. The carillon keyboard, or clavier as it is commonly called, is pneumatic electric or
Thirty-six tons of copper and are contained in the memorial benches on both sides over 7 tons, is 7 feet 2 inches in diameter and stands 5 feet 9 inches long. It was necessary to turn this bell on its side to get it to fit inside the memorial.
The largest bells of KU's carillon are hung in the lowest square room containing 10-foot clavier. Bells of the middle register are hung at the very top of the bass and the bells interspersed between the high and low registers. All the bells are anchored to steel beans.
The carillonone plays the notes by striking the keys with the fingers, sometimes times with the fingers. In performing, the carillonuse uses both hands and feet, sometimes striking eight or more notes at once.
Carillon bells are hung dead, that is, fixed, so they can not swing when played. The clappers, suspended inside the bells, strike outward from the pedals through an intricate system of weights and balances.
mechanism, but is completely mechanical. The clavier is fitted with foot pedals and, like the wooden levers, are connected by wire to the clapper hanging inside its respective bell. The owl swing only two inches or below the inner rim of the bell.
There are five distinct tones in every caroll between the Fundamentals and harmonies or overtones. The latter are the Hum Note, one octave below the Strike Note; the first is the Harmonic Strike Note; the Quint, a fifth above the Strike Note; and the Seventh above the Strike Note.
The five harmonies of each bell are accurately tuned, one to the other and perfectly tuned in its fundamental note the other bells. It is because of the unusual harmonies in the bells that the tongues carrying over after the bells have been struck, that musicians music at first seem strange.
The Westminster chiming mechanism, located in a small room, was used to train the clavier, was added to the Campanile in 1954, and makes it possible for the carillon to be dramatically on the quarter hours.
KU's, maintenance, bellows, playing
made by the John Taylor and
Company foundry in Lough-
borough England. The cost for
the bellows is $7,000.
The bells are made of an alloy of copper and tin. Because of the high tin content, the bells will resist corrosion.
Before the bells were shipped to Lawrence, Donald Swarthouh, de emeritus of the School of Fine Arts, went to the Taylor plantfoundry in Loughborough to complete the final tuning of the 33 bells.
The piano is used for arranging music for the carillon. The practice keyboard, an exact instrument, utilizes tuned metal bars rather than bells in its sounding mechanism. The metal bars, when struck, emit a sound barely at the base of the canamante.
A small practice studio is located halfway up the tower, carpeted room containing piano and shower stall. The shower stall, however, has been converted into a air conditioner in addition to the addition of air conditioner.
On April 6, 1951, the bells were shipped from Liverpool to the United States. Frank Godfrey, engineer supervising in charge of construction, accompanied the bells and supervised their installation. The bells were shipped by rail from New York to Lawrence.
In a letter from England, Swarthout wrote, "Without question, according to the several experts in charge of getting it in the navy, that all of the bells that has gone out of the John Taylor foundation so far."
Many places for good listening are near the Campanile, but the base of the tower is not one. The listener should be several hunter-ready and the spot depending on the strengths and direction of the wind.
To some people the massive stone structure serves as a place of contemplation, to others its a point of beauty, but the memorial to the 765 students who lost their lives during World War II.